Stocking foot



Feb. 19,- 1935. R, Q A 1,991,624

STOCKING FOOT Original Filed April 12, 1932 Inventor Warm Patented Feb. 19, 1935 .UNlTED STATES PATENT STOCKING Foo'r v Richard C. Paul, Los 'Angeles, Calif.

' Application April 12, 1932,-Serial No. 604,742 Renewed July 17, 1934 4 Claims. (01. 36-10) This invention relates to a stocking foot intended to be worn inside a shoe or slipper.

For. some years, it has been the vogue for women to wear their slippers or shoes without stockings. However, this is not entirely comfortable as the lining of the shoe'or slipper has a cold, clammy feeling to the wearer's foot, particularly where the lining of the shoe or slipper becomes moist from perspiration. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a stocking foot capable of being worn inside the shoe which will leave the legs bare.

One of the difficulties encountered is that such a stocking foot, being formed of flimsy material does not hold itself in place on the wearer's foot. This is particularly true of the heel portion of the article, because it tends to creep down on the heel onto the sole of the shoe. The use of elastic at the upper edge of the stocking foot is not desirable, because it is uncomfortable, and for the reason that repeated washings of the stocking foot will detract from the efliciency of the elastic.

A general object of this invention is to provide a stocking foot with means for overcoming these difficulties, and to provide an article which can be worn with comfort, and which will be so constructed as to prevent it from coming off of the wearers heel.

The construction of this stocking foot necessitates the use of seams in its sole, and one of the objects of the invention is to provide these seams in such a Way as to prevent their interfering with the comfort of the stocking foot when worn.

A further objectof the invention is to provide a stocking foot of this kind with simple means for supporting it at the heel, and at the same time to construct such means so that it will operate to transfer perspiration forming on the heel, to the knitted or fabric portion of the article.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists of novel parts and combinations of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an eflicient stocking foot.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a stocking foot embodying my invention, and indicating the wearer's foot in dotted lines;

Figure '2 is a, bottom plan of the stocking foot illustrated in Figure 1 upon an enlargecgscale;

and

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken about on the line 3-3 of Figure 2. H 6

In practicing the invention, I providela body 1 preferably of knitted material, such asemployed in making hose. This body, of course, will be formed of different sizes to suit the foot ,of the wearer. The'wearers foot is indicated by the dotted lines 2. The stocking foot is cut low so that it presents an upper opening with an edge 3, which is located below the instep4 of the wearers foot. This edge 3 is preferably slightly depressed near the shank 5 of the foot, but is slightl5 ly elevated at the forward and rear ends.

The edge .3 is preferably non-elastic, but is preferably formed witha stitched seam, and the stitch 6 used along. this edge should be a medium stitch; in other words. it should not be very tight, nor very loose.

In order to prevent the heel portion '7 of the stocking foot from working down on the heel of the wearer, I provide a stiffener 8, andwhile this part is referred to as a stiffener, it should be understood that it is relatively stiff as compared with the fabric out of which the body of the stocking foot is formed. The material out of which this stilfener is formedis very important and prefer: ably consists of the material known to the trade as reducing girdle fabric. It should be flexible and water-proof.

Material known as reducing girdle fabric consists of a sheet of elastic rubber with a light fabric adhering or vulcanized to each side. However, in using this material, I remove the fabric which is on the inner face of the stiffener so as to permit the inner face of the rubber sheet 9 of the stiffener to lie directly against the skin of the wearers foot. .On its outer face, however, the stiffener still carries the original fabric coating 10 which this material has. The stiffener is preferably attached to the body of the stocking foot by means of stitches 11 extending along the upper edge 3. The lower edge 12 of the stiffener is preferably of convex form and may have substantially the form indicated in Figure 3.

It has been found in practice that the stiffener performs its function more efficiently if it is provided-with a plurality of perforations 13. These perforations are preferably of small size and dis-- tributed uniformly over the area of the stiffener on both sides preferably as indicated in Figure 3. These perforations carry the perspiration through from the skin of the wearers foot, to the fabric sheet or covering on the outer side of the stiffener, and this absorbs the perspiration and also transmits it to the heel portion 7 of the body of the article.

By reason of the fact that the rubber sheet 9 of the stiffener is pliable and flexible, it readily.

' an advantageous pneumatic effect in that they permit the air to pass out from between the stiffener and the skin of the wearers heel, thereby enabling the external atmcspheric pressure to assist to a certain extent in holding the stiffener pressed against the wearers heel. I

In order to assist in shaping the blank to the stocking foot, I prefer to form the foot with a longitudinal seam 14 extending longitudinally on the bottom of the sole 15. At its forward end, this seam reaches a short cross seam 16. The location of the seam 16 is very important, and it is found in practice that it must be located at a point on the sole so that when the stocking foot is worn, this seam 16 will come under the ball of the large toe 17. If this seam 16 is too far forward, it will become located on the front of the toe or under the nail of the toe and is very uncomfortable when the stocking foot is worn.

These stocking feet when worn inside of a shoeor slipper and without a stocking, greatly increase the comfort, and, in addition to this, they may, if desired, be worn inside or outside of a stocking, such as a golf stocking, to protect the same and reduce considerably the wear on the feet of such stockings occasioned by rubbing and particularly occasioned by the toe nails in rubbing against the shoe.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and I do not. wish to be limited in the practice of my invention, nor in my claims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1. A stocking foot to be worn inside of a slipper or shoe, having a body of flimsy material fltting to the wearers foot and a stiffener attached to said body at the heel, said stiffener consisting of a flexible sheet of material sewed to said body and having perforations therein for venting the air between the wearers foot and the stiffener, and enabling the stiilener to adhere to the wearer's foot at the heel and prevent the stocking foot from slipping downwardly off of the wearers heel. I

2. A stocking foot to be worn inside of a slipper or shoe, having a body of flimsy material fitting to the wearers foot and having an upper opening with a non-elastic edge disposed at a point below the instep of the foot, and a stiffener attached on the inner side of said body at the heel, said stiffener consisting of a flexible, waterproof material operating to adhere to the skin of the wearers foot at the heel to prevent the stocking foot from slipping downwardly off of the wearers heel, said stifiener having perforations and having a covering of light fabric adhering to its outer face.

Y 3. A stocking foot to be worn inside of a slipper or shoe, having a-body of flimsy material fitting to the wearer's foot and having an upper opening with its edge disposed at a point below the instep of the foot, and a stiffener attached on the inner side of said body at the heel, said stiffener consisting of a flexible, water-proof material, said stiffener having perforations therein venting the air between the stiffener and the wearers heel, enabling the stiffener to adhere to the skin of the wearers foot at the heel and preventing the stocking foot from slipping downwardly off of the wearers heel.

4. A stocking foot to be worn inside of a slipper or shoe, having a body of flimsy material fitting to the wearer's foot and having an upper opening with its edge disposed at a point below the instep of the foot, and a stiffener attached on the inner side of said body at the heel, said stiffener consisting of a flexible, water-proof material operating to adhere to the skin of the wearers foot at the heel to prevent the stocking foot from slipping downwardly off of the wearers heel; said stiffener having perforations and having a covering of light fabric adhering to its outer face.

RICHARD C. PAUL. 

